-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The list of people missing in tornado-ravaged Joplin , Missouri , shrunk to eight on Wednesday , as officials told CNN that the bodies of two people previously on the list had been identified .

Stanley Kirk and Maria Alvares Torres died in the storm , and their next-of-kin were notified , said Seth Bundy with the Department of Public Safety .

News reports suggested that two other people listed as `` unaccounted for '' may have been declared dead as well . Bundy said declarations are not made official until family members are informed .

Authorities also announced that a woman who was not listed as missing has died as a result of the severe weather that struck May 22 , Bundy said .

Over the weekend , Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr told CNN the death toll stood at 142 . Not all the names had been released . It was not immediately clear whether the deaths announced Wednesday were included in the toll .

The May 22 tornado flattened buildings , destroyed neighborhoods and killed more people than any other U.S. tornado since modern record-keeping began in 1950 .

`` It 's indescribable ... just devastating to see all the destruction of my school , my home , '' said Joplin High School sophomore Chanci McGowen , CNN affiliate KODE reported . `` My whole neighborhood is gone , but everyone 's OK . ''

The station broadcast images of a memorial service at the school , where a sign out front just had the letters `` op '' from `` Joplin . '' Someone used what looked to be duct tape to add letters , creating the word `` Hope . ''

- CNN 's Dana Ford contributed to this report .

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The official missing list drops to 8

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More deceased victims have been identified

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At a memorial service , a sign reads `` Hope ''